Monday, March 19, 2018

Learning about the updates in Edition 8 of the SQF Code and the difference from Edition 7.2.
Validate and verify your food safety plan within the SQF system and meet FSMA requirements
Describe SQF system elements and mandatory elements
Implement and maintain SQF systems
Know the process for SQF certification

Course Description:

Promote an understanding of the SQF Code.
Create a knowledge base to facilitate the successful implementation of an SQF System and understand the process for aligning with FSMA regulatory requirements.
Show how a HACCP-based approach manages food safety and quality hazards in an operation.
The SQF Food Safety Code for Manufacturing applies specifically to Food Sector Categories 7-22, 31-34 and includes Modules 2 (Systems Elements) and Module 11 (Food Safety Fundamentals for Food Manufacturing).
Designed to provide current and new SQF Practitioners, Sr. Management, Production Personnel, and their team members with the tools and knowledge to develop and maintain their SQF food safety management system and understand the process for aligning with FSMA regulatory requirements

The most notable change to the structure of the program is the separation of the food safety and quality requirements into individual assessments, customized for each industry segment and covering more than 30 supplier and food sector categories: produce and livestock; manufacturing; distribution; manufacturer of food packaging and a new program specific to food retail.
Who Should Attend?

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Learning about the updates in Edition 8 of the SQF Code and the difference from Edition 7.2.
Validate and verify your food safety plan within the SQF system and meet FSMA requirements
Describe SQF system elements and mandatory elements
Implement and maintain SQF systems
Know the process for SQF certification

Course Description:

Promote an understanding of the SQF Code.
Create a knowledge base to facilitate the successful implementation of an SQF System and understand the process for aligning with FSMA regulatory requirements.
Show how a HACCP-based approach manages food safety and quality hazards in an operation.
The SQF Food Safety Code for Manufacturing applies specifically to Food Sector Categories 7-22, 31-34 and includes Modules 2 (Systems Elements) and Module 11 (Food Safety Fundamentals for Food Manufacturing).
Designed to provide current and new SQF Practitioners, Sr. Management, Production Personnel, and their team members with the tools and knowledge to develop and maintain their SQF food safety management system and understand the process for aligning with FSMA regulatory requirements

The most notable change to the structure of the program is the separation of the food safety and quality requirements into individual assessments, customized for each industry segment and covering more than 30 supplier and food sector categories: produce and livestock; manufacturing; distribution; manufacturer of food packaging and a new program specific to food retail.
Who Should Attend?

Thursday, March 8, 2018

The US Dept. of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced the recall of 19,757 lbs. of pork and chicken empanadas by Linden, New Jersey-based Saker ShopRites Inc. due to misbranding and an undeclared allergen. The products contain egg, a known allergen, which is not listed in the ingredient statement on the label.

The fully cooked empanadas were produced between Oct. 7, 2017 and Feb. 12, 2018. The following products are subject to recall: Click here for list

Sunday, March 4, 2018

Yesterday FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D. issued a statement about updates to the Nutrition Facts label for foods. The latest label uses evidence-based information about nutrients, including added sugars, to heighten consumer awareness related to the amount of added sugars in foods, especially as it relates to dietary guidance recommendations.

One of the important factors in ensuring successful implementation of the label is that FDA provides food manufacturers with clear guidance on how to make the required changes to their labels to meet the compliance deadline. Last year FDA proposed extending the compliance date from July of this year until January 1, 2020 for large manufacturers ($10 million+ in annual sales) and January 2021 for small companies.

“We’re equally committed to providing industry the information they need to effectively implement the new version of the Nutrition Facts label in a timely fashion. Today we issued practical guidances that provide further clarity on several key elements, including fiber, added sugars and serving size declarations.” – Scott Gottlieb, M.D., FDA

DESCRIPTION
The FSPCA training materials are designed to meet the requirements for training under Title 21 Code of Federal Regulations Part 117.155 for the Preventive Controls “Qualified Individual” who conducts Food Safety Plan activities such as developing and reviewing a food safety plan, validating preventive controls, verifying and validating process controls among others. Attending an FSPCA course will provide assurances that the course content and resulting knowledge is consistent with regulatory expectations. Each facility registered with the FDA is required to have a Preventive Control Qualified Individual PCQI.

A preventive controls qualified individual is a person who has successfully completed training in the development and application of risk-based preventive controls at least equivalent to that received under the standardized curriculum from FSPCA.

The FSPCA program is based on collaboration among federal and state regulatory officials (FDA), academic food safety researchers and educators, and U.S. food industry representatives. This program is delivered by a FSPCA Lead Instructor.

Friday, February 23, 2018

Bacterial contamination and undeclared allergens lead the way in causes.

Over the past five years, the food and beverage industry has seen a big increase in the units recalled—a 92.7% spike in FDA recalls and an 83.4% increase in recalled pounds by USDA since 2012, according to Stericycle’s quarterly recall index. The firm cites technological advances in food testing, factory farming and more automation in food production as the main contributors to the high numbers.

During Q4 2017, bacterial contamination and undeclared allergens led the pack in food recall causes. According to Stericycle, back in 2012, about 28% of FDA food recalls were a result of bacterial contamination, while undeclared allergens accounted for 35% of pounds of food recalled by USDA. During Q4 2017, 44% of food recalls (based on units) were from bacterial contamination, followed by undeclared allergens (31%), mislabeling (13%), and quality (10%). Among the top categories for recalls were prepared foods (20%, nuts and seeds (16%), produce (15%) and baked goods (12%). In addition, nearly 50% of the USDA recalled pounds were a result of lack of inspection.

DESCRIPTION
The FSPCA training materials are designed to meet the requirements for training under Title 21 Code of Federal Regulations Part 117.155 for the Preventive Controls “Qualified Individual” who conducts Food Safety Plan activities such as developing and reviewing a food safety plan, validating preventive controls, verifying and validating process controls among others. Attending an FSPCA course will provide assurances that the course content and resulting knowledge is consistent with regulatory expectations. Each facility registered with the FDA is required to have a Preventive Control Qualified Individual PCQI.

A preventive controls qualified individual is a person who has successfully completed training in the development and application of risk-based preventive controls at least equivalent to that received under the standardized curriculum from FSPCA.

The FSPCA program is based on collaboration among federal and state regulatory officials (FDA), academic food safety researchers and educators, and U.S. food industry representatives. This program is delivered by a FSPCA Lead Instructor.

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Fruit and vegetable farmers are doing an “impressive” job of complying with the laws and regulations related to pesticide use in production, according to the USDA’s annual Pesticide Data Program (PDP) report. Based on data from 2016, the report found that more than 99% of samples had pesticide residues that were “well below” the EPA’s established tolerances, and more than 23% had no detectable residues. Less than half-a-percent of samples (0.46%) had residues that exceeded the EPA established tolerance.

To compile the PDP report, surveys were conducted in 2016 on several foods, including eggs, milk, and fresh and processed fruit and vegetables. The report contains data from more than 10,000 samples collected throughout the United States.

A release from the Alliance for Food and Farming states that the U.S. food supply is one of the safest in the world, yet: “Activists groups often manipulate the findings from the USDA PDP report taking the very positive results and somehow turning them into something negative. This tactic has been used routinely for 20-plus years to create a so-called ‘dirty dozen’ list, which has been repeatedly discredited by scientists.”

DESCRIPTION
The FSPCA training materials are designed to meet the requirements for training under Title 21 Code of Federal Regulations Part 117.155 for the Preventive Controls “Qualified Individual” who conducts Food Safety Plan activities such as developing and reviewing a food safety plan, validating preventive controls, verifying and validating process controls among others. Attending an FSPCA course will provide assurances that the course content and resulting knowledge is consistent with regulatory expectations. Each facility registered with the FDA is required to have a Preventive Control Qualified Individual PCQI.

A preventive controls qualified individual is a person who has successfully completed training in the development and application of risk-based preventive controls at least equivalent to that received under the standardized curriculum from FSPCA.

The FSPCA program is based on collaboration among federal and state regulatory officials (FDA), academic food safety researchers and educators, and U.S. food industry representatives. This program is delivered by a FSPCA Lead Instructor.

“FSIS is proposing that official plants will be required to produce egg products in such a way that the finished product is free of detectable pathogens,” according to a USDA news release. “The regulatory amendment also uses agency’s resources more efficiently and removes unnecessary regulatory obstacles to innovation.”

FSIS will also be taking over jurisdiction of egg substitutes.

According to the agency, the financial impact of the proposed rule could be minimal, as it states 93% of egg products plants already have a written HACCP plan that deals with at least one production step in the process.

Once published in the Federal Register, a 120-comment period will go into effect.

Friday, February 2, 2018

Successfully doing so could be the difference between a routine audit and a recall.

As a food safety plan manager, do you ever get asked these questions regarding your food safety plan: What was your thought process for making this decision? Why do you do it this way? How do you answer this?

And, do you ever answer with one of the following statements:

I’m not sure? What do you mean?

That’s the way it has always been.

Our customer asked us to do it that way.

That’s what our last auditor recommended.

We make a low-risk product.

If this is one of your answers, defending your food safety plan may be a challenge. There is a major shift taking place in the world of food safety. With the implementation of FSMA Preventive Controls, the widespread adoption of GFSI audits, along with advanced technologies such as rapid pathogen and allergen detection, whole genome sequencing, and transparency efforts such as Blockchain, as well as with the increasing use of social media and access of information via the internet, food industry professionals are more educated and informed than ever before and ready to challenge your every move. As a food safety plan manager, you and your team must be ready! Being prepared to defend your food safety plan can be the difference between a recall and a routine audit. If you cannot fully explain the reasoning behind your decision-making, then how will you be able to prove that you are in complete control and are being proactive against food safety hazards? It will not be easy.

You must be ready to defend each and every part of your food safety plan. You must be able to defend questions and challenges with certainty and facts. Every decision made in your hazard analysis should be written down and backed with factual evidence whenever possible. Even the “none identified” areas should be backed by strong reasoning if no other factual evidence is available. You can use the data that you collect daily to help justify your decisions. Data collected from your prerequisite programs (ATP swab results, allergen cleaning validations, GMP audit findings, pest control trends, etc.) and food safety plan (CCP’s, validations, verifications) is all support for your decisions. Have this on file and ready to review when necessary.

If something looks out of the ordinary in your plan, make sure you can fully explain it and can back it with solid justification. If not, auditors, regulators, customers, etc. may start to become suspicious, which can lead to unwanted questions. You will then oftentimes start to get suggestions for change based on others’ individual expertise. Regulators may make “strong suggestions” for changes, for instance, and some people will just go along with it to avoid the pushback or because they simply don’t have a better solution. If this happens, soon your plan is no longer yours—it’s everyone’s. Some of these suggestions may be good, but is it really the right change for your plan? If not, it will often make the plan less rational and often difficult to defend.

The following are tips to help you avoid this situation.

Meet with your food safety team regularly. Go through each part of your food safety plan and figure out how to answer the “why’s”. Why are things done this way? Why did we decide if this hazard was significant or not? Have annual reviews to make sure your plan is still functioning as originally intended and review new industry trends to be proactive regarding new potential hazards.

Write a process narrative. Writing a process narrative documenting what happens at each step of your process and explaining your “thought process” for making decisions is a great support tool. It gives your team a chance to elaborate on the “justification” column in the hazard analysis, providing more decision-making details without crowding the hazard analysis form.

Gather supporting documents. Scientific studies, guidance documents, expert opinions, etc. are vital pieces to have in your supporting documents library. Make sure it is appropriate for your individual products and the documents are from reputable sources, such as FDA, USDA, universities, process authorities, etc. Oh, and don’t forget about history! A reputable supplier with a long track record of safe product, a low history of recalls for the products you produce, etc. can help justify your decision-making.

Conduct Internal Audits. Having an internal audit schedule and well-trained internal auditors help with finding inconsistencies within your program and allow you to make corrections before outside parties find these issues.

Prepare. Have a “mock audit” and prepare for questions that are commonly asked during audits. Practice your answers and make sure you have supporting evidence when needed. Stay up-to-date with industry trends, especially common audit non-conformances.

Be organized. It’s great to have all the supporting documents that you need, but if you cannot find them, then you just as well have nothing.

Be confident. People, especially experienced auditors and inspectors, can quickly sense fear and lack of confidence. This often prompts more questions. Knowledge is power, and knowledge also builds confidence. Simply put, the more knowledgeable you are about your food safety plan, the more confident you will be when someone is trying to test you.

Continuously Improve. It’s understandable that mistakes will be made. However, the next logical question you will be asked is: What did you do about it? Remember, for every nonconformance you find in your system, there should be a correction or corrective and preventive action to address it. It must not simply restate the problem, but legitimately correct the issue. This will give regulators, auditors, customers and anyone else looking at your system confidence that you are in control and can provide a consistently safe product.

Saturday, January 27, 2018

The documents will help importers and food producers in areas that include foreign supplier verification and produce safety.

Today the FDA issued five guidance documents related to FSMA with the goal of assisting food importers and producers meet provisions in the regulation.

The first two documents are related to the Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) regulation. The FDA issued the draft guidance, Foreign Supplier Verification Programs for Importers of Food for Humans and Animals, along with a small entity compliance guide. The third draft guidance is related to whether a measure provides the same level of public health protection as the corresponding requirement in 21 CFR part 112 or the PC requirements in part 117 or 507 . “This draft guidance aims to provide a framework for determining the adequacy of a process, procedure, or other action intended to provide the same level of protection as those required under the FSMA regulations for produce and for human or animal food,” according to FDA.

The FDA also released a final chapter in the draft guidance related to FSMA requirements for hazard analysis and risk-based PCs for human food. The chapter is intended to assist food facilities in complying with the supply chain program requirements.

The fifth guidance is an announcement of the FDA’s policy to exercise enforcement discretion related to the FSVP rule regarding certain grain importers that bring the product into the United States as raw agricultural commodities. “This enforcement discretion is meant to better align the FSVP rule with the exemption for non-produce RACs under the PC rules,” stated FDA.Article Source: https://foodsafetytech.com/news_article/fda-releases-five-fsma-guidance-documents/

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

HACCP TRAINING will provide training to write a HACCP plan for Food Service and Retail Businesses to be compliant with State and Federal regulatory requirements. The 2-day training is offered on Monday, January 22 from 8 am to 5 pm and Tuesday, January 23 from 8 am to 5 pm.

The workshop is offered at Napa Valley College, and hosted by NVC in partnership with Superior Food Safety.

It is designed for food service and retail food business owners, managers, chefs, sous chefs, servers, and employees, as HACCP training may be required for operations.

Attendees will understand how to implement a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Plan and mitigate the risks associated with food safety incidents.

They will identify, assess, analyze and control potential hazards in a retail or food service operation and ensure safe food handling. They will understand the food flows and learn to apply the HACCP process approach to identify hazards and managerial controls for each grouping.

The cost is $500 each (1-2 participants) and $460 each (3+ participants from same company). The fee covers course materials, Certificate of Attendance, lunch both days and snack breaks.

The course is taught by Oscar Camacho, owner of Superior Food Safety and a registered FSPCA-Human Foods and HACCP Lead Instructor and Consultant. Oscar is a GFCP-Gluten Free Certification Program Consultant and Trainer, SQF Consultant and Trainer,
and a former SQF Auditor.

He has a BS in Biology and an MS in Food Science and Engineering from the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia in Spain. He also holds a Certification in International Management and regularly continues studies in food safety, Enterprise Risk Management, and business administration.

The course is also taught by Jocelyn Lee, whose career spans over 25 years in the food industry in restaurants, rail-transport supplier of food service serving as Executive Chef, Owner, President and Professional Food Safety Manager.

Saturday, January 6, 2018

In partnership with Superior Food Safety, Napa Valley College is hosting this timely and important workshop.

Participants in this two-day course will:
•Develop their knowledge for the successful and effective implementation of a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Plan in order to mitigate the risks associated with food safety incidents
•Gain an understanding of how to identify, assess, analyze and control potential hazards in their retail or food service operation ensuring safe food handling
•Gain a thorough understanding of the food flows in an establishment and learn to apply the HACCP process approach to identify the associated hazards and managerial controls for each grouping
•Become compliant with State and Federal regulatory requirements

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

FDA’s Office of Regulatory Affairs has released the most frequently cited inspectional observations for fiscal year 2017. Among the items on the spreadsheet are food safety hazards, failure to clean, sanitation records, corrective action plan, and lack of sanitation.

“These observations, are listed on an FDA Form 483 when, in an investigator’s judgment, the observed conditions or practices indicate that an FDA-regulated product may be in violation of FDA’s requirements.” – FDA

The following are the top five (most frequent) observations.

5. Contamination: Cleaning and sanitizing operations for utensils and equipment not conducted in a manner that protects against contamination of food, food contact surfaces and food packaging materials.
4. Failure to implement HACCP plan procedures.

3. Facility not constructed in a way that enables floors, walls and ceilings to be adequately cleaned; buildings, fixtures and other physical facilities not kept in sanitary condition.

2. Sanitation monitoring: Sanitation conditions and practices not monitored with enough frequency to be in conformance with CGMP.

About Us

Superior Food Safety is based in Napa, CA and provides US and Latin American businesses with consulting and training for certification, implementation, management, and maintenance of FSMA and GFSI food safety and quality systems. Customized training is available to clients worldwide and all courses can be delivered in English or Spanish.